Nearly three years after repealing Tiverton's first solar ordinance, the town council will soon hold a public hearing on a draft ordinance designed to better regulate the electricity-producing farms throughout town.

The original ordinance was passed in March 2018, but lasted only eight months before its repeal in November of that year. Town council president Denise deMedeiros admitted at last week's meeting that the first one "was really a disaster; we found that out afterwards."

While it regulated four types of solar arrays — roof-mount and small, medium and large ground-mounted — Tiverton Town Planner Jennifer Siciliano wrote in a memo to the council that it had flaws, including the lack of lot coverage limitations.

"The solar field could be as large as the subject parcel minus setbacks," she wrote to the council. "There should be a solar coverage percent limit on how much property can be used for solar."

It also erred in requiring that vegetive buffers be as little 20 feet wide, depending on the zone.

"Vegetative buffers should be larger, so that the solar fields are blocked from abutting property owners and public roads. Twenty feet is not enough area to allow vegetation to screen solar projects."

Since the repeal, large scale solar farms have been prohibited in Tiverton, though smaller 'accessory' farms could still be approved by the building official on a case by case basis.

"Right now there's no regulation," said town solicitor Michael Marcello.

Following the repeal, council members directed the planning board to come up with a new version. A draft was completed in late 2019, but it ended up sitting as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020.

"It's a much better ordinance than the original one," Ms. deMedeiros said.

How big?

Under the proposed plan, setbacks, frontage and lot coverage requirements have been revised to make arrays less visible.

Front, rear and side setbacks for small arrays in all residential districts are set at 120 feet, 35 feet, 40 feet and 20 feet, respectively, and can cover a maximum of 20 percent of the lot. Medium sized arrays in residential districts must have 50 feet of frontage and 100 foot front, rear and side yard setbacks, with 20 percent of lot coverage. For large arrays in the residential districts, frontage must be 50 feet, with 250 foot front, rear and side yard setbacks. Again, the maximum lot coverage is set at 20 percent.

In the general commercial district, medium and large-sized arrays can cover 50 percent of the lot but all setbacks and frontage are set at 100 feet.

In the highway commercial district, 50 feet of frontage is required and all front, rear and side setbacks are set at 200 feet, with a maximum lot coverage of 50 percent.

In the industrial zone, medium and large systems must have 50 feet of frontage, 200-foot setbacks and must cover no more than 75 percent of the lot.

For Brownfield sites, impaired sites, landfills, quarries and gravel pits, medium and large sites can cover as much as 80 percent of the lot, with 50-foot frontage and 100 foot setbacks required.

What can go where?

Under the proposed ordinance, roof-mounted arrays are permitted in most areas, with a special use permit required in the village district zone. They are not allowed in open space/conservation zones.

Small arrays are allowable via special use permits in the residential and watershed protection overlay zones. They are permitted by right in the general commercial, highway commercial and industrial zones, and not allowed in the village commercial, watershed protection overlay and open space/conservation zones. Medium and large arrays are allowed in the same zones as small, with the same approval requirements, except with the additional requirement that for those proposed in the general commercial district, a special use permit is required.

Next step

Council members reviewed the planning board's draft document last week at its first reading, and will hold a public hearing on the matter next month, likely Sept. 13.